TATA HARRIER v HYUNDAI CRETA v KIA SELTOS v MG HECTOR
Answering the question you all have been asking. Can the Harrier take the fight to the best-sellers?
Our social media posts were flooded with questions regarding how the updated Tata Harrier with a more powerful 168bhp engine sourced from the Jeep Compass fared against popular rivals including the likes of Creta, Seltos and Hector. Here’s where all the answers are
IF YOUTUBE COMMENTS ARE anything to go by, the Harrier has an extraordinarily large fan base. And a rather vocal one at that. Among the gems on the evo India channel, one particularly strident Harrier enthusiast accused us of being “biased to foreign brands” for not including the Tata in our Creta v Seltos comparison test. “Being an Indian try to promote Indian cars n (sic) help Indian manufacturers,” hollers Jachin before delivering a crushing verdict. “U (sic) reviewers are so disappointing.”
Well, we can only feature cars that we can get our hands on and believe me when I say your comments spurred us to pull whatever strings we could to get hold of the 2020 Tata Harrier. Here, then, is the comparison test you have all been clamouring for. And we will try our damndest not to disappoint you.
The nicest on the eye
Now styling is a matter of personal taste but let’s not take away from the fantastic job Pratap Bose and his teams did with the Harrier — so much so that two years later it still looks fresh, contemporary and on the money. Apart from new rims there are no visual tweaks to the 2020 Harrier and, truth be told, it didn’t need any, save for the urgent re-profiling of the wing mirrors to reduce giant blind spots. Even today, the Harrier turns the most heads and that’s despite the Seltos, in a very flashy shade of blue, running in the same convoy.
I also think the Kia looks excellent. Conventionally handsome, well-proportioned and using lighting elements to create an unmistakable visual signature, the styling is one of the big reasons for the unprecedented sales success. But if I had to choose, I’d lean towards the butch SUV-ness of the Harrier, especially the Dark edition that looks pretty gangsta (though I wish it had up-sized wheels to ramp up the thuggery).
As for the new Creta, Hyundai haven’t done themselves any favours by going totally radical. Not since the Hector has anything drawn such strong comments. But then again the Creta was the bestselling car in India in May, proving that styling is a rather personal preference. Not open to interpretation though is build quality and both the Creta and the
Seltos boast tight and consistent panel gaps and an overarching sense that nothing will break, come loose or go wrong. The Harrier cannot match either the consistency or precision of the Koreans though it is a clear step ahead of the Hector.
All four SUVs here run 17-inch wheels but on the Hector they look two sizes too small. The wheel arch gaps are huge as are the panel gaps, and the styling — while unmistakable — is not something that appeals to me. The red plastic strip joining the taillamps, the blanked-out cut out on the right of the bumper for a tailpipe, the Internet Inside badging, all aren’t to my taste. But then again you see so many Hectors on the road, so what do I know about styling.
Buy any of these and you will spend more time looking at them from the inside, and here the Hector definitely ups its game. That massive 10.4-inch vertically-oriented touchscreen is the party piece and lends the cabin a clean and sophisticated look and feel. Build quality on the inside is good, the materials are par for the course and the panoramic sunroof along with the longest wheelbase makes this the most spacious cabin. If you want to be chauffeur-driven this should be at the top of your list, no question.
On the space front, neither the Hyundai nor the Kia can compete with the Hector. Both have identical
I’D LEAN TOWARDS THE BUTCH SUV-NESS OF THE HARRIER, ESPECIALLY THE DARK EDITION THAT LOOKS GANGSTA
dimensions and five inside will be a bit too snug. It’s not like you will be rubbing knees against the back of the seat if you sit behind me but you won’t have much free space to stretch out either. The Creta scores ever so slightly over the Seltos on comfort with the cushions on the rear headrests and the panoramic sunroof. I also think the conventionally-styled dash of the Creta looks better than the Seltos but that, again, is a matter of personal preference. What nobody can complain about is the build quality, materials used and equipment levels on both these mid-size SUVs. Both get a 10.25-inch touchscreen that, while smaller, is more responsive than the Hector’s and I prefer this setup with separate (physical) air-con controls rather than waiting for the MG’s screen to boot up and then go into the sub-menu to operate the climate control. I really like the cooled seats up front and the air purifier — both of which are unique to the Koreans. There’s also an inbuilt e-SIM that offers a range of functionality including remotely starting and cooling the car via an app, geo-fencing it, tracking and immobilising the car, breakdown assistance and even a concierge service. Because Hyundai has an electric handbrake, the remote start also works on the manual gearbox, unlike the Kia or MG. The Hector too gets the same connected car features but adds voice commands, is 5G ready (for whenever India gets 5G), features over the air updates and the in-built Gaana app is rather good. And the Harrier, well, it has none of this.
Tata Motors have yet to get on to the connected car bandwagon so you have to manually open and close the sunroof — which is as ridiculous as it sounds. In all my time testing these so-called connected cars, I’ve never once used a voice command to activate anything, so let this not be a reason to stay away from a Tata Motors dealership. What I do use is CarPlay and the Harrier not only has the smallest touchscreen at 8.8 inches but CarPlay occupies only 70 per cent of that (smaller) screen meaning the display for the maps or phone numbers is half the size of the others. If everybody else can get CarPlay to stretch across the entire real estate available on the touchscreen, I wonder why Tata Motors cannot. They also do the smallest instrument binnacles but this is only something you notice in comparison to the other three; in isolation it works just fine.
BOTH THE KIA AND HYUNDAI ARE EASY-PEASY TO DRIVE, DELIVERING A VERY GOOD BALANCE OF RIDE
AND HANDLING
What Tata Motors does get right is the commanding driving position. The blind spots are now reduced though visibility is still not the best. The panoramic sunroof is a welcome addition and the space at the back is enough, though it cannot beat the Hector’s benchmark. And the front seats (now electrically adjustable) are the most supportive and comfortable of the lot. In fact, the Harrier is the most SUVlike from behind the ’wheel and I like that a lot.
The most SUV-like of the lot
The Harrier, as we all know, runs on the Discovery Sport platform and that makes it feel less like a car with raised ground clearance and more like a proper SUV. Of course it only has front-wheel drive and, like the rest, the traction modes will be of no use getting you unstuck. But until you hit soft sand or deep muck the Harrier works brilliantly. It has that solid ride quality that soaks in bumps and ruts, both at low speeds and especially so when you hit them at speed. Over bad roads the Harrier can fly over everything without breaking into a sweat. It doesn’t float or wallow over undulating roads making passengers sick. And it feels rugged. It can take a beating. It’s the total opposite of the Hector whose soft suspension gets tied up in knots when you increase speeds and hit less-than-perfectlysmooth roads. The Tata has an excellent driving position, great forward visibility, very comfortable seats, and honestly is the most enjoyable to drive on the highway. Its suspension setup is perfectly suited to our Indian roads and it is the fastest too, which we shall come to in a bit.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Hector that is the most softly sprung of the four. In the city, at low speeds, it delivers a cushy and pliant ride that is great for being chauffeur driven. But at speed it is all over the place and quite the handful. The steering is also the least engaging, the body roll is the most pronounced and understeer sets in the earliest. This isn’t a driver’s SUV.
The Seltos and Creta, thanks to their more compact proportions, end up being the easiest and most undemanding to drive. In the city the Harrier can feel a bit cumbersome but both the Kia and Hyundai are easy-peasy, delivering a very good balance of ride and handling. In the hills, the two cousins are faster than the Tata, handle better, roll less, have better steering feedback, grip harder, have less tyre squeal, deliver more confidence and are more enjoyable. And it’s not that they’re better in comparison only when pitched
THE HARRIER NOT ONLY GETS TO BIG SPEEDS WITH THE LEAST EFFORT BUT SUSTAIN S IT WITH THE LEAST EFFORT
against the Harrier and Hector — they’re good to drive even in comparison with many sedans at this price point. The Seltos is slightly sportier of the two with a firmer ride that lets in small bumps and ripples into the cabin whereas the Creta is slightly more compliant, more comfortable and less unsettled over the small expressway bumps courtesy not-so-great concrete surfacing. The Goodyear tyres on the Seltos deliver better resistance to understeer than the Hyundai’s Nexen tyres but overall, the Creta has the better ride and handling balance of the two and you will enjoy driving this over long distances.
And that’s the thing with the Creta, as also the Seltos. They can do both — city commutes and big highway miles — in comfort, speed, safety and silence.
The fastest of the lot
Small equals less weight, equals more performance. And that’s why the Hector and Harrier cannot run away from the Creta and Seltos despite having higher displacement, more horsepower and significantly more torque.
We dragged the Seltos against the Harrier and till 80kmph, the Seltos just about had its nose ahead, post which the Harrier used its considerable torque advantage to steam away. The Harrier is quick! It not only gets to big speeds with the least effort but sustains it with the least effort thanks to the great suspension setup that delivers an excellent sense of confidence. It can actually sustain a higher cruising speed than the Creta and Seltos — something that I was surprised by, considering the latter are more car-like and thus should deliver more confidence. But the higher seating position on the Tata delivers a better view of the road ahead, the tough underpinnings mean you don’t have to keep an eye out for sudden bumps and ruts, and the gearbox is excellent in keeping the engine on the boil. This Hyundai-sourced six-speed automatic gearbox in the Harrier also allows full-rev standing starts with proper wheel spin while also delivering quick(ish) shifts up and down the gears.
Tata Motors took the opportunity presented by the BS6 changeover to not only bump up power of the FCAsourced 2-litre diesel to 168bhp but also (significantly)
reduce NVH. Sure you can still hear the engine but it is now well within acceptable limits even during hard acceleration, and it has reversed the tables on the MG (which, on our last comparison test, bested the Tata).
The MG has the same engine as the Tata — same 168bhp and 350Nm of torque — but it only gets a manual gearbox with a rather sharp clutch action and is also a fair bit noisier. Acceleration is as quick as the Harrier and it can get a move on but what the engine can deliver, the suspension cannot handle. The Hector is too soft, too squishy, and your knuckles will turn white trying to keep up with the Harrier on the highway.
The Koreans, with 113bhp and 250Nm of torque, have significantly less power (55bhp) and torque (100Nm) and, with their smaller 1.5-litre engines, aren’t strictly in the same segment as the Tata and MG. But they’re also significantly lighter (by 300kg) which means they can stay on the tail of the bigger SUVs. Of course you have to work the motor harder and that’s when you realise the 1.5 engine is significantly more refined with much better NVH. The gearbox (both the manual and the automatic) are smoother and quicker to react. And in the city the Koreans are easier to drive, have less turbo lag, are less intrusive and most importantly, have much better fuel efficiency. The manual delivers 21.4kmpl while the automatic puts out 18.5kmpl both of which are significantly more than the Harrier’s 16.35kmpl for the manual and 14.63kmpl for the automatic (all claimed ARAI figures for the diesels).
Contentious verdict
Doubtless many will disagree with our verdict but here goes. The Hector may not be great to drive but it is great to be driven in. Fact is not every car needs to go round corners at a million miles an hour. Horses for courses as they say. If you want a spacious, comfortable and well-equipped car to be driven around in, in the city, the Hector fits the bill perfectly. And by the time you get this magazine, the Hector Plus will have been launched with captain seats in the middle row which,
will make it even better for being chauffeur-driven while improving things on the styling front. More than the rivals on these pages MG’s focus will then be on the Innova Crysta.
As for the Harrier, well, this is what it should have been at the start. The full 168bhp, automatic gearbox, proper NVH, sensibly-sized wing mirrors, better ergonomics… the niggles are sorted and it now is rather excellent. Period. And it doesn’t need any jingoism or misplaced sense of national pride to win my recommendation. After this test I drove home in the Harrier — it is faster, more fun to drive, the suspension is excellent, and it has the least intrusive 80kmph speed buzzer. I like it an awful lot. And if YouTube comments translated into actual buyers the Harrier would, hands down, be the best-seller.
But, it is also expensive.
`20.15 lakh, I fear, is over ambitious. This is nearly `3 lakh more than the Creta and Seltos, and both have considerably more equipment. Sure you don’t need to yell at the sunroof to get it to open but the other connected car features like SOS, geo-fencing, tracking, all of them are worthwhile. Plus you get better infotainment systems, cooled seats, and three engines to chose from including that excellent turbopetrol with the twin-clutch automatic. There’s a Creta / Seltos to suit a wider range of budgets and aspirations.
If you need the space then there’s no question you should look at the Hector. If you want a butch SUV, the Harrier not just looks the part but also feels it. If your work involves hammering down broken roads, definitely buy a Harrier. But if you are looking for a balanced verdict I will have to steer you towards the Koreans. They’re better built, more refined, better equipped and will be stress-free. And between the two the Creta nudges ahead, chiefly because Hyundai engineers have taken everything that we know and love about the Seltos and improved it ever so slightly. The ride is more settled. The cabin has nicer interiors. And it delivers more bang for your buck.
And now I’m off to check out the comments on YouTube.L